Saint Maria Goretti

Maria
Goretti was a good little girl, a pure little girl. At eleven years
old, she had such a love relationship with Jesus that she would
rather die than allow her chastity to be compromised, rather die
than take a chance on breaking relationship with Jesus. But how can
that be? How could she possibly understand what path her Yes

to Jesus would take her down?
We’re not talking about St. Agnes or St.
Cecilia or Saints of the early Church who gave up their lives for
Jesus. This is the Twentieth Century. She is a product of this
century. Where have we gone, how low have we become, that our young people can’t possibly
understand how a girl from their own century could sacrifice her
life for her morals?

Girls as young as eleven, are "sexually active,"
have become pregnant, have had abortions often with help of their
own mothers, in

many
instances, and those who did not die on the abortionist’s table,
have died of AIDS in many instances. We’re at a time in our society
when there are virtually no morals being
taught or practiced either in the classrooms of our schools, in the
pulpits of our churches, or in the homes by the parents of these
children. Our schools are giving children condoms and parents are
putting girls on the birth control pill. We’re being taught safe sex
in an effort to avoid the spread of dangerous
diseases and to keep the world population down. Last on the list of
priorities is the prevention of the spread of moral decay of a civilization, which in its final
analysis will be much more deadly than any
physical disease our children may contract.

Maria Goretti is definitely a contradiction in terms. She is

surely a paradox. She could not possibly exist
in this, the last decade of the Twentieth Century, the end of the
second millennium, and yet she is a product of our century. Either
she is completely out of sync, or we are condemned for the apathy we
portray to our children by
our behavior. Either Maria Goretti is wrong or we’re wrong. Is it
possible that we could be wrong?

Our little Saint was born on October 16, 1890.
She was the second living child of the Goretti family, the

first boy having died as an
infant. She had an older brother, Angelo, and
would have more brothers and sisters as time went on. When we wrote
of the Little Flower of Lisieux, St. Thérèse, we said Saints beget Saints. Maria's
mother in particular, Assunta, was a saintly
woman. She had no formal education, but she was taught powerfully by
her Church and given, we believe, infused knowledge by the Holy
Spirit. This love for God and her Church was passed on to her
children, especially little Maria. She was baptized the day after
her birth. Assunta did not want to have her child carry the stain of
Original Sin any longer than necessary.

Under the tutelage of Assunta and Luigi, Maria
grew up a very

selfless,
giving girl. She cared more about pleasing others than for her own comfort. Little things had great meaning to
Maria. Perhaps because the
family had always been and would always be financially very poor, she had no great need for possessions.
They were not available to
the family; Maria didn't think about them. Instead, she tried to do
whatever she could to make her family's life more pleasant. She was a very normal girl, enjoying games
and running through the
fields. But her mother noted a strong spirituality in her from an early age. It never left her; it just became
more intense.

Little Maria and her family lived a happy life in Corinaldo, but
they were always on the edge. The land was too small and

difficult to farm. Luigi did the
best he could, but it was not good enough. He
insisted that he could not take care of his family in the proper
manner under these conditions. He argued they would have a better
chance in some far-off land, perhaps the big city, Rome. The grass
was always greener somewhere else. Besides, anything was

better than they had. Assunta, on the other hand,
was determined to not leave the place of her birth and that of her
children, especially for a decadent place like Rome. But Luigi was
resolved to give his family a better life. To make his case
stronger, their very close friends and neighbors, Domenico and his
sister Teresa Cimarelli, were planning to leave also. This gave
Luigi courage to convince Assunta that they and their children
should leave Corinaldo and head towards Rome.

The lure of the big city always attracted the
people from the farms. But it had not helped those who left in most
instances. Although there was work, very often there was no life.
The wages were just above slave labor; the living conditions were
impossible; the whole family had to work in different factories. The
work of St. Don Bosco in the slums
of Torino in the last fifty years of the Nineteenth Century
had been proof positive that there were no streets lined with gold
in the big cities, only heartbreak and very often the breakup of
families.

But Luigi had his way. Had he allowed himself to be more
influenced by Assunta and less by
his neighbors, things might not have turned out the way they
did, for him, his daughter Maria, Assunta and the whole family. They
headed for Rome, carrying all
their life's possessions in a little cart. They traveled in a
caravan with their neighbors, two little carts carrying two
families in search of their dreams. It took a number of weeks to get
to Rome. They had much time to think about the path they were
taking. The prospect of a new
adventure filled them with excitement of how it was going to be.
That is, until they finally reached Rome.

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Saint Maria Goretti

The little White and Crimson Rose of Jesus

The name of Saint Maria Goretti has a special place for me. I would judge that
most everyone in my generation has grown up having heard the story of
the little crimson and white Rose of Jesus, Saint Maria Goretti. Her story
inspires such emotions in us, such a desire to bring ourselves to Jesus
and His Mother Mary as pure buds, ready to flower into whatever vocation
They desire for us, whether it be religious, lay people or as in the
case of little Maria, Saints who gave their lives as martyrs rather than
stain their immortal souls by committing a sin. And in that way, Saints
like Maria Goretti become role models for young people in these modern
times.

We know the story of
Saint Maria Goretti with surface knowledge. She is famous for what she
obviously did, die rather than allow her relationship with Jesus to be
compromised by giving into a sexual temptation. This is the obvious
cause for her Sainthood, much as Saint Maxmilian Kolbe’s obvious
reasoning for Sainthood was taking the place of a fellow prisoner in the
death cells of Auschwitz during the Second World War. But these are only
the apparent. There is so much more to each life which calls for us to
venerate them as special servants of God, true role models. We have
written about Saint Maxmilian Kolbe in two different books, trying to tell
the story of this powerful man in the Church.

There were two other virtues of
Saint Maria Goretti which are so subtle,
they get lost in the shadow of giving her life. One of them was
selflessness. She cared more about her eternal soul than her bodily
safety. And possibly even more than that, she cared about the soul of
her attacker more than her own life. As we get into the woeful story of
her life and death, we can’t help but realize that part of the reason
for her determination not to give into Alessandro Serenelli was for his
salvation.

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Saint Maria GorettiSaint
of Purity and of Youth, and of the 20th century - Role model for chastity
in our world today.Saint Aloysius GonzagaWent
into ecstasy. Trained to be a Knight, he chose the most physically and
demeaning work.Saint
Margaret of CastelloPatron
of the Unwanted. Unloved and abandoned by her family, till today, miracles
upon miracles come about through her intercession.Saint
Dominic SavioPatron
of Youth and Chastity - Student of Saint John Bosco - His motto, "Death
but not sin."Saint
Gabriel Possenti Co-Patron
of Italian Catholic Youth Like our youth today, struggling with
temptations, he chose Jesus and Mary rather than the world.Saint
Rose of ViterboIncorrupt
body - She went among the villagers of Viterbo, feeding their bodies and
souls.Saint
Stanislaus KostkaTraded
in fame on Earth for everlasting peace and joy in Heaven - a role model
for what mankind can be - for all ages and all times.Saint
Philomena Saint
of Chastity - Read the heroic story of a young Christian Martyr of the
early Church.Code BHI 224 pages
Many Photos
ISBN 1-58002-133-6
$13.95

Saint Maria GorettiSaint
of Purity and of Youth, and of the 20th century - Role model for chastity
in our world today.Saint Aloysius GonzagaWent
into ecstasy. Trained to be a Knight, he chose the most physically and
demeaning work.

Saint
Margaret of CastelloPatron
of the Unwanted. Unloved and abandoned by her family, till today, miracles
upon miracles come about through her intercession.

Saint
Dominic SavioPatron
of Youth and Chastity - Student of Saint John Bosco - His motto, "Death
but not sin."

Saint
Gabriel Possenti Co-Patron
of Italian Catholic Youth Like our youth today, struggling with
temptations, he chose Jesus and Mary rather than the world.

Saint
Rose of ViterboIncorrupt
body - She went among the villagers of Viterbo, feeding their bodies and
souls.

Saint
Stanislaus KostkaTraded
in fame on Earth for everlasting peace and joy in Heaven - a role model
for what mankind can be - for all ages and all times.

Saint
Philomena Saint
of Chastity - Read the heroic story of a young Christian Martyr of the
early Church.

"Super
Saints" on
EWTN, received such a
profound acceptance, with viewers seeking to learn more about these Saints, Bob
and Penny Lord went about writing this Trilogy, adding the lives of these Saints
to the great collection of Saints they have previously written about.
Read
how these Saints lived and died, their eyes on the Kingdom.God raised these Saints from the four
corners of the World,each with a unique charism, to touch His children, defend His Church.
Bring to your family
young Role Modelswho
embracedthe values of purity, chastity and
obedience.As men were waging war against the
Church, calling it Reformation, these Saints were bringing about a True
Reformation, a Counter-Reformation.
Read how you can become a Saint, and live forever in that Place
reserved for you in the Kingdom; for there is a Heaven and God wants you to be
with you for all time. This was His plan before you were born. These
Saints never asked why, but how they could do God’s
Will.Pope John
Paul II is counting on us!
We can change
the world!We must change the world!

Dear Bob and Penny:Greetings from Toronto, Canada:
Just a little note to acknowledge how wonderful and
inspiring your Super Saints series is. I just saw the programon Blessed Margaret of Castello.It shows
how God selects as his friends, the rejected and
forgotten of this world, if they turn to Him, especially in HisEucharistic Presence. Human notoriety can appeal to ourvanity as the imitation of Christ warns.In Christ and Saint AugustineFr.
E. T. OSA Toronto, Canada

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